“Still taking my time,” he responded to the first question, about how he felt physically. “Still trying to be patient, listen to my body and just be patient right now….

“It could be tomorrow and I could feel like I could play the next game,” he said. “Nobody knows but God.”

So, we should ask Pope Francis?

Does the regular season winding down put pressure on him?

“Not at all. I feel like when I’m ready to come back, I’ll be ready, no matter when it is. I don’t care. Whenever I’m ready, I’ll be out there,” Rose said. “[I wants to return] bad, but knowing that my health is the biggest key, where I’m only 24 years old, got the whole future in front of me, so just trying to take my time….

“[My knee is] still about the same, where when you warm up a little bit it gets loose, then the activity picks up and it gets back sore, so just playing through that,” Rose explained. “Sometimes you kind of think a little bit when I’m out there and that’s how I know when I’ll be ready to play. When I’m not out there thinking; I’ll just be reacting.

“[My explosiveness is] coming. I’m not panicking or anything. If anything, I think I’m going to be a better player. I’m just taking my time, like I said. I’m just being patient, doing all the right things, eating right and getting rest,” he went on to say. “I haven’t done my vertical—I think I lost some height in my vertical last year—so jumping-wise, I shouldn’t have to worry about that.”

Rose is doing the right thing. Being patient as a fan sucks, but when you have a 24-year-old MVP it’s about the next five years, not this one. I still think he’s going to play this season, and into the playoffs. But we shouldn’t expect too much right out of the gate.

Right now, we just have to wait. It seems even Rose doesn’t know when he’ll be comfortable and ready to return.